Elmo, Elmo

Don't know when the fascination starts, but Chloe is so over Elmo.
We get the kids an iPad a few months ago and now they have been You-tubing more than me in my whole life!

Chloe knows where to tab for You-Tube. The screen will be usually be at the History. She then chooses her Elmo clip. She even knows how to pause/play, go back to History page. She will only get lost when she accidentally tabs on 'Featured', 'Most Viewed' etc. Then she will bring the iPad to me and say 'Elmo, Elmo'. Once I tab on the History page again for her, she will carry her iPad to wherever she was sitting and continue You-tubing.

Very often, Lucas and Chloe will fight for the iPad. They wanted to play and You-Tube at the same time. I have to set a time limit for each of them.

Gadgets, oh gadgets!

Is it Normal?

Last month, there was parents teachers meeting and I went to see Lucas's class teacher. These are some of the observations she made:
- he doesn't participate in activities like singing and dancing. He is watching and know what's going on, but just don't participate. His expression is like 'why are you asking me to do all these silly things!'
- He is very gentle, never throw any temper. Only once, I caught him asking his friend 'Can you just shut up!' when his friends was singing too near his ears. He already gave his friend the warming when he covered both his ears with his hands.
- He does participate in other activities. He puts up his hand to answer questions and walks up to talk.
- When he was standing in front of his classmates, and did not get the answer right, he feels a bit shy and curve his lips. But it is not a problem because he usually gets it right.

What does that tell you??
He is going to be a book worm and a 'kaki bangku' (not sporty type)?

Today, I had a meeting with his Music teacher and ICT teacher. This is what his Music teacher said. 'I am concerned for him. He does not join his friends no matter how much fun they are having. When I asked him to join, he will just give a smile. But he is listening and observing every thing. One day, I passed by his class and saw him standing at the corner while his friends were riding bicycles. I asked him why and he said 'they are cycling too fast. I need to protect myself. They might hit me'. He is very smart and he thinks differently'

I am concerned too now. Is this just him and normal for children his age?

The ICT teacher observation was rather vague. I think she doesn't know exactly which is Lucas. She said 'He need a lot of assistance to do his work to navigate the mouse.' I know this is not true at all. Lucas can start Internet Explorer, go to Favourites and click on his 'Playhouse Disney' and plays all the games and activities. He can even print the pictures till the printer ink cartridges ran out of ink. He is expert in playing computer games and has no problem navigating the mouse.

Should I get him assessed by a specialist to see if his behaviour is normal? Or just let it be?

Updates, Changes & Antics

I just realised it has been more than a month since my last post. I have been busy and lazy...more of latter.

So, what happened since then?
The 2 kids were down with serious fever. Chloe had it first. One morning she just woke up with warm body. Her temperature did get to 40 degree Celsius. I had to monitor her very closely. Gave her Paracetamol every few hours. Even had the Voltran (pill that stick to the rectum to bring the fever down quickly) ready. After 2 days her fever came down to about 38.5 but her nose started running and coughing. All in all, it took her one week to recover and 3 visits to the paed.

Of course, after she recovered, the virus got passed to Lucas. Lucas fever was very high, quite often above 40 degree Celsius. On the first day, I gave him Paracetamol to see if his body can fight the virus. After 12 hours, his fever was still high. Took him to the paed who gave him a Voltran. The paed was so good that he did not even realised that something went inside his rectum. That night, I had to wake up every 4 hours to gave him medicine. The paed gave a schedule alternating the different type of fever medicines. His fever took 4 days to come down. After that, his voice became coarse, till today. I'm wondering if I should take him to the paed again. His voice has been coarse for longer than usual. It took him a week to recover and also 3 trips to the paed.

That was my stressful, anxiety filled 2 weeks!

When the kids have fever, I let them sleep on my bed. It is easily to me to put my hand on their forehead to gauge the temperature. If it is very warm, I will get the thermometer. If it is mildly warm, I'll go back to sleep. Chloe was so restless when she was on my bed. She tossed and turned and couldn't sleep tight. The minute I put her back on her baby cot, she was knocked out immediately. On the other hand, Lucas loved it when he is sick. He gets to sleep on my bed. Even after he has recovered, he said 'Mommy, I am really sick. Can I sleep with you?'

Now that they are both back to normal (except for Lucas's coarse voice), things are back to normal. I seriously hope they will not catch any virus or bug anytime soon. Very stressful for the mothers when children are sick.

Christmas is commming. The tree is not up as we have not buy it yet. We usually buy the fresh cut tree from Ikea. But Lucas was very excited and we have put up our Christmas table cloth and the angels (decoration on the table). Have to find a day to go to Ikea to get the tree. Buying the tree is easy but transporting a 6ft tree home is difficult in a sedan.

This Friday is Lucas last day for this term. He is baking cookies in school on Thursday and having a Christmas party on Friday. Then he is off for 1 month. We planned some short holidays too. Driving south to Singapore for the weekend to see the Christmas lights on Orchard Road. 2 weeks later, we will be driving north to Penang to visit some relatives. Hope we get some nice weather to go to the beach.

Christmas shopping....managed to get some gifts for people we are meeting in Singapore and Penang. The rest.....will see when I have time to go shopping. It is more of I don't know what to buy!

As for me, I'm busy trying to finish a trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Good read.